The Gandhi–Irwin Pact, also called the Delhi Pact, was signed on 5 March 1931 between Mahatma Gandhi and the Viceroy Lord Irwin. It suspended the Civil Disobedience Movement and brought the Indian National Congress to the Second Round Table Conference in London. It was the first time the British government negotiated with Gandhi as an equal, and it remains one of the most-asked topics in UPSC Prelims modern history.
Quick Answer
Date: 5 March 1931, Delhi. Parties: Mahatma Gandhi (for the Congress) and Lord Irwin (Viceroy). Mediators: Tej Bahadur Sapru, M. R. Jayakar and V. S. Srinivasa Sastri. Result: Civil Disobedience suspended; Congress agreed to attend the Second Round Table Conference (September–December 1931). Government conceded: release of non-violent political prisoners, return of unsold confiscated land, salt-making for personal use in coastal villages, peaceful picketing. Not conceded: an inquiry into police excesses and commutation of Bhagat Singh’s death sentence. Endorsed by the Karachi Congress session (March 1931).
Background: Why the Pact Was Needed
The Civil Disobedience Movement began with the Dandi March (12 March to 6 April 1930). It spread into salt satyagraha, boycott of foreign cloth and liquor, no-tax campaigns and forest satyagrahas, and the government answered with mass arrests: by early 1931 more than 90,000 people were in jail and the Congress had been declared illegal.
The First Round Table Conference (November 1930 to January 1931) met in London without the Congress and achieved little, since no constitutional settlement could work without the largest nationalist party. In January 1931 the government released Gandhi and members of the Congress Working Committee, and liberal leaders Tej Bahadur Sapru, M. R. Jayakar and V. S. Srinivasa Sastri brokered talks. Gandhi and Irwin began talks on 17 February 1931 and signed about two weeks later.
Terms of the Gandhi–Irwin Pact
What the government agreed to
- Release of political prisoners not convicted of violence.
- Remission of fines not yet collected.
- Return of confiscated lands that had not yet been sold to third parties.
- Lenient treatment of government employees who had resigned during the movement.
- Right to make salt in coastal villages for personal consumption, not for sale.
- Right to peaceful, non-aggressive picketing of liquor and foreign-cloth shops.
- Withdrawal of emergency ordinances issued to suppress the movement.
What the Congress agreed to
- Suspend the Civil Disobedience Movement.
- Attend the Second Round Table Conference to discuss the constitutional future of India.
What Gandhi asked for but did not get
- A public inquiry into police excesses during the movement.
- Commutation of the death sentences of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev, who were hanged on 23 March 1931, less than three weeks after the pact.
The Karachi Session (March 1931)
The Congress met at Karachi from 29 to 31 March 1931 under Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel to endorse the pact. The mood was sombre after the executions; Gandhi faced black-flag demonstrations on his way. The session:
- Endorsed the Gandhi–Irwin Pact.
- Reiterated Purna Swaraj as the goal.
- Adopted the Resolution on Fundamental Rights and National Economic Programme, drafted by Jawaharlal Nehru, which promised civil liberties, equality before law, universal adult franchise, free primary education, and state ownership or control of key industries. It is often called the first statement of what swaraj would mean for ordinary people.
Aftermath: The Second Round Table Conference
Gandhi was the sole representative of the Congress at the Second Round Table Conference (7 September to 1 December 1931). By then Irwin had been replaced by Lord Willingdon, and a Conservative-dominated National Government ruled Britain. The conference deadlocked on the question of separate electorates for minorities, which Gandhi opposed. He returned empty-handed in December 1931, Civil Disobedience resumed in January 1932, and the government met it with severe repression. The movement was formally withdrawn in May 1933 and called off in April 1934.
Assessment: Retreat or Gain?
| View | Argument |
|---|---|
| A retreat | Young radicals, the left and many peasants saw it as a sell-out: no Purna Swaraj, no inquiry into police violence, and no reprieve for Bhagat Singh. |
| A gain | For the first time the British negotiated with the Congress as an equal party, recognising it as the voice of the national movement. |
| A strategy | Bipan Chandra describes Gandhi’s method as Struggle–Truce–Struggle (S–T–S): a mass movement cannot be sustained indefinitely, and a truce lets the movement consolidate before the next phase. |
For the full arc of the movement, see our Timeline of Modern Indian History.
Key Facts for Prelims
- Also known as: Delhi Pact (5 March 1931).
- Viceroy: Lord Irwin (1926–1931), later Lord Halifax.
- Gandhi was the only Congress delegate at the Second Round Table Conference.
- Karachi session (1931): presided over by Vallabhbhai Patel; adopted the Fundamental Rights and Economic Programme resolution.
- Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev were executed on 23 March 1931 in Lahore.
- Communal Award (August 1932) and the Poona Pact (September 1932) followed the failure of the Second Round Table Conference.
